Risky business: Radon levels pose concern for homeowners in Shoals

By Mike Goens, Senior Editor
Times Daily, online edition

No one has to tell Kermit Mitchell about the agony often associated with cancer. Not only did he spend his professional career as a doctor, but he was diagnosed with a form of the disease back in 1992.

It only occurred to him recently, though, that the cancer he contracted near his colon – non-Hodgkin's lymphoma – could be linked to an odorless, cancer-causing gas known as radon.

When he learned about a radon-testing program at Helen Keller Hospital, he had his house on Pickwick Street in Sheffield tested. The results were alarming.

His house recorded a reading of 12.7 picocuries of radon per liter of air. Health and Environmental Protection Agency officials say homeowners should be concerned when the piocuries level, which is used to measure radioactivity in the air, rises above 4.

They point to research showing that prolonged exposure to radon levels over 4 can increase a person's risk of developing lung cancer and even greater if the person is a smoker. They also have research showing that radon causes up to 21,000 deaths each year.

Those are sobering figures for Mitchell and should be a concern for most Colbert County residents, based on results from more than 1,100 radon tests at houses throughout the county.

The tests reveal that more than one out of every three houses in Colbert has elevated levels of radon. There's no county in Alabama with a larger percentage of homes that have elevated picocuries levels.

Franklin, Lauderdale and Lawrence are also on the list of 15 Alabama counties with the highest percentage of radon levels.

"I have two neighbors who had the same thing," Mitchell said. "I wonder if they've had their houses checked?"

Mitchell has lived in his house nearly 42 years. He said he was told that the elevated radon level in his house would have affected his lungs just as if he had been smoking the whole time. Mitchell does not smoke.

Despite the high reading, Mitchell said he has not sought mitigation programs for his house. Mitigation can consist of installing fans, piping and other materials to give radon a way to escape from an enclosed house.

Those programs, however, can be expensive, based on the levels and size of house. The average cost is about $1,200.

It's an expense the Mitchell's have not invested.

"We haven't been concerned enough yet to ask how much it would cost to do our home," he said. "We have put it off because of the expenses, and we've lived here so long."

Talking about the radon level did prompt Mitchell, 71, to go the next day to the state Cooperative Extension System office in Tuscumbia to make arrangements to purchase two more test kits.

The kits cost $5 and include directions explaining how to test a house and an analysis report. Kits are also available at hardware and other retail stores.

"Yes, I have a little concern," Mitchell said.

Jim McNees, assistant director of radiation control of the Alabama Department of Health, said it's not unusual to see people put off doing something to radon-proof their houses even after seeing elevated radon levels.

"Some people accept the risk, just as they accept the risk of driving down the interstate at a high rate of speed or riding in cars without a seat belt," McNees said. "But this is a risk that is not worth taking when you consider that about half of the people who get lung cancer die within one year. This risk is easily eliminated."

Walter Rodgers, a radon technician at the extension office in Madison County, used smoking as a comparison.

"You can only smoke so long before you get cancer," he said.

"Radon is like nicotine that builds up on your lungs after a period of time. I'm convinced if a longtime smoker could see their lungs, they would quit smoking. And if a person living in a house with a high level of radon could see their lungs, they'd do something about it."

McNees said radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer, behind smoking. There aren't, however, any studies showing that residents in Colbert or another county on the list of 15 has more cases of lung cancer than other counties.

McNees said a study on the issue was conducted in Iowa three years ago.

It revealed that someone living in a house with radon levels above 4 were 50 percent more likely to develop lung cancer.

"We know we have a high rate of cancer in this area, but we can't say it's directly linked to elevated radon levels," said Teresa McDonald, an agent in Colbert County's extension office.

"I was concerned enough to have my house checked, and we've had our office here tested."

McNees called the radon levels in the Shoals a "significant concern." He recommends all residents to have their houses checked for high radon levels.

He said there are two areas of Alabama that have more elevated levels of radon than the rest of the state – the Tennessee Valley and a region around Coosa, Shelby and Talladega counties that are in the foothills of the Appalachian.

He said much of the Tennessee Valley has a rock formation call the Chattanooga shell. Radon, which is the only naturally occurring form of radioactive gas, is created from the breakdown of uranium in soil, rock and water.

Madison County has the second-highest percentage of elevated radon levels, largely because of the numerous caves in the area, officials say. The rock formation found there and in the Shoals is closer to the surface than in many other areas.

Radon escapes through cracks in the rock and soil formations. Unless the gas is trapped inside a building or house, it does not pose a severe health problem.

In the Tennessee Valley, the rock formation has many layers of limestone that run horizontally. McNees said the radon travels horizontally through the formation until it finds a way to escape.

That's why elevated radon levels can skip houses or even neighborhoods. The problem does not discriminate between big houses or small houses, expensive or cheap houses or even styles of houses.

"The only way to be sure is to test," McNees said.

E.G. Hurst, a Sheffield resident living on 33rd Street, said he checks his house every year, even though previous tests have shown radon levels of 1.5 to 1.7.

"I do it because of the health risks," Hurst said.

Susan Roberts, assistant program director of Alabama's radon education program, said the radon levels in the Shoals are concerning. She said the percentages listed in each county are not scientific, "but they give a pretty good idea."

"And when you think that one out of every three houses in Colbert County has elevated levels, it hits home," Roberts said.

She recommends that homeowners with high radon levels to contact a certified mitigator to fix the problem.

She said Alabama, like other states, is nearing a time where homebuilders will be required to radon-proof houses they are building. In Decatur, Falkville and Hartselle, ordinances are already on the books.

She said it costs $350-$500 to build houses with systems in place, a large savings from the costs of making corrections after the house is built.

"If you know your house has a system in place, you can certainly sleep easier," Roberts said. "When you're talking about lung cancer, it's good to reduce as many risks at possible."